IBM unveils Cell chip, sort of

Posted June 8, 2005 - 22:58
by
Wolfgang Gruener

In the wake of Apple's highly publicized switch from IBM processors to those made by Intel, IBM will share the particulars of its new multi-engine Cell microprocessor with open source developers on Wednesday at the company's Power.org Community Conference in Barcelona.

IBM announced in February it was working with Sony and Toshiba to develop a "supercomputer on a chip." The Cell chip has nine separate computing engines or cores and the ability to handle multiple functions simultaneously.

While details weren't released broadly, IBM on Wednesday gave developers the information they'll need to write software for the new chip.